Survey finds Canadians don't trust contractors

June 26, 2018

By Reno-Assistance

Photo courtesy Daily Record

With construction season in full swing, a new Reno-Assistance survey conducted by Ipsos across Canada has found that two in three Canadians (64%) do not trust general contractors. Confidence levels are even lower for some specialized contractors. The most trusted building professionals among those surveyed are electricians, yet nearly half (47%) of Canadian homeowners do not trust them either.

In Canada,Toronto and Vancouverare the cities with the greatest proportion of people who encounter major problems with renovation contractors (63%) in comparison to other major cities and national data. That said, Vancouverites are less likely than Torontonians to experience more than one major issue on a single project, making the West Coast city runner-up for the very unenviable top spot.

The Reno-Assistance survey reveals that 7 in 10 Canadians have difficulty finding a contractor they can trust for a renovation of $5,000+.

Some key survey findings about different Canadian regions:

The Atlantic provinces are where major renovations cause the most stress – even more than buying a new property. This, despite being the region with the highest trust and satisfaction levels in the country towards contractors.

Calgary is the city where price is most important, more so than honesty – which is the most important selection criteria in the rest ofCanada.

Montreal and Vancouverare the champions in mysterious disappearances/theft of belongings over the course of a project. Our survey points to this happening 6% of the time.

Saskatchewan/Manitobais the only region where people spend more time choosing a trip abroad than a contractor for a renovation project.

Toronto is the Canadian city where people are most likely to have their deposits stolen (9% of our sample), get unforeseen extras billed (27%) and require work to be redone due to sloppiness (22%). It is also the city where it's most difficult to find a trustworthy renovation contractor: 78% find it difficult.

If 63% of Torontonians experiencing major problems with their contractor is not shocking enough, this number jumps to 79% for projects greater than$20,000and carried out in the last 3 years. In other words, if one was to begin an important renovation project with a contractor inTorontotomorrow, there would be a more than 3 in 4 chance of facing at least one potentially damaging financial issue.

Are Canadians Careful Enough?

Few Canadians make the necessary verifications, such as ensuring the company they are signing with legally exists (16%), has proper insurance (19%), a licence (27%), a clean legal history (14%) and so on. 9/10 people do not look into credit information about their contractor before entrusting them with projects sometimes worth tens of thousands of dollars.